Dressed in a long military green over coat and a black beret Richard "Sammy" Brooks caught the perplexed attention of the recruiters who were standing in their office. We passed them, bought couple of burritos at a local Mexican
restaurant, a few tall boys at 7-11 and drove back to Rich's house. In his living room was a still Greek
tortoise getting warm under a lamp as well as a few cats who were staring at me
as I took a seat on a sofa. There will
be two parts for this interview - since we hung out for more than an hour.
In fact, there are not many interviews on the web on either The
Scofflaws or Richard Brooks who uses the stage name, “Sammy.” Yet, this is a band that toured the US and Europe
and still have a strong legion of fans.
Recent years, their gigs have been sporadic, playing mostly on Long
Island and some gigs in Rhode Island or in Manhattan.
We covered the very beginning as well as the concept of
third wave ska which is what The Scofflaws are considered. The first wave was bands from Jamaica such as
the Skatalites, Desmond Decker and Bob Marley and the Wailors. The second wave was known as the Two Tone
bands. Two Tone was the record label
based in the UK. Bands such as The
Specials, Madness, The Selecter and Bad Manners as well as The English Beat. The second wave captured the energy and
aggression of punk. It is interesting to
see the progress of the ska wave; from Jamaica to the UK to the third wave
which was global. Within the US, bands
such as Toasters, Fishbone (which was one of my favorites) The Mighty Mighty
Bosstones, The Untouchables (who I saw perform back in the 80’s in San Jose) No
Doubt, Sublime and Rancid. The Scofflaws
played with many of these bands.
But they were not always known as The Scofflaws, the band
started as The New Bohemians. You may
recall Edie Brickell (“What I Am”, 1986) and The New Bohemians. There was no affiliation. Richie sold the name for $500.00 to her management.
The ska movement peaked in the ‘90’s. All of The Scofflaws albums were released
during this time, The Scofflaws, 1991/Moon Records, Ska in Hi Fi 1995/Moon
Records, LIVE (Vol. 1) 1996, Moon Ska Records, Record of Convictions/1998Moon
Ska Records. Some of these bands which
sold millions broke up. Some ska labels such as Moon/Ska Records folded. By 2000 the third wave had crested. What is left is the surviving ska bands who
still tour, play at ska festivals and are adored their passionate fans. Yet, there are new ska band who continue to
create and forge their own “rude-boy” path.
MG: When you were introduced to ska?
RB: The Two tone error had a real impact on me. I liked the reggae stuff which preceded
that. But when the two tone thing hit
and Elvis Costello, it had that punky edge to it, I really embraced it, so that
was the late seventies.
MG: What were some of
the bands who influenced you?
RB: The Specials came through first and I missed them and
people were saying, oh man you should have seen this show, these guys were
unbelievable, this was the next new thing.
About a month later Selecter came through and I caught their thing. It was a lot of fun and that was at My
Father’s Place in Roslyn. That was their
first tour. It was an all black band
with one white guy on guitar. They did
the James Bond bit and they put a spot light on the guy and the guy became
James Bond, it was really cool. Now, her
whole line up is different, but that original band was very good. So, around that time I started doing the New
Bohemian thing.
MG: What year was
that?
RB: It was around
1984 when The New Bohemians were born.
Prior, to that I was playing with some garage bands. But that is a whole other area of my career.
MG: You had mentioned
directing as something you always wanted to do which led you to leading a band,
so what inspired you?
RB: I always like the
idea of directing, putting out the right kind of material out there. What really sparked the idea was when I went
into a bar looking for a friend of mine.
The guy is not there and I look around the room and I think it’s pretty
cool and I ask them, ever think about putting music in here? And they tell me, they thought about. And there’s this guy Gene, he’s a brick layer
and he’s sitting at the bar. And he
tells the owner, “Oh, you should hire this guy’s band (Rich’s) they’re really
good. I didn’t even have a group, but
Gene thought like a business man. Get
the gig and then get the musicians, so that is how it sparked. Just as a lark I called a whole bunch of
friends and said, hey listen, I’m doing like an open mic this night, come
down. I did that for a few weeks and
started getting offers for other gigs after that. It was formerly known as Snyder’s and became 89
Wall Street. I’m thankful to Gene to
this day.
MG: So, you had the
New Bohemians and Scotto became your manager?
RB: Scott didn’t come
onto the scene till later. What happened
we were playing CB’s and getting in on the scene and then Edie Brickell’s
manager contacted me. I think his name
was Monty or something. So, I explained
I was using the name (New Bohemians) for three years by that time. And I said I can prove it since I had back
issues of The Voice for the times when we played CB’s and we’re in the add and
it’s dated. So you, know at that time I
sold it. The name had a kind of beatnik
connotation which was very cool, but we were into the idea of getting people dancing
and the ska thing was what we were going after so it was a good time to change
the name. My buddy and I were on the
phone and there was a good band around called The Citizens and you don’t think
of a rude boy when you think of a citizen, you think of a nice guy who cuts his
lawn or something. So we said we needed
to go for something tougher than that. I
thought of Scofflaws and from that moment on we started using that and it has
served us well. It’s cool because once you
get out of the New York area; a lot of people haven’t heard that. It’s kind of a regional thing.
MG: There are four
releases as The Scofflaws, were there any more than that?
RB: Well, there were
some rinkey dink compilations we were on.
The first was a vinyl release, we were on it, it had a ska face and it
was on Moon Records. It was us and The
Toasters, The Boilers, No Doubt, Let’s Go Bowling. Shortly after that we recorded the first
disk (The Scofflaws Moon Records 1991)
The sessions included Tony Mason and I don’t why he did it, but anyway. We finished up the sessions and then he left
the group. So, John started drumming for
us. I remember doing this gig at SOB’s
and Tony came down. We were opening up
for the Skatalites and the room was filled.
So, I can see the expression on his face. Tony, we had the whole thing recorded. You
really should have let us promote it before you made the decision to
leave. But he wound up getting into
other things and I lost contact with him.
In
music that’s the biggest problem, is everybody’s ego. When the ego gets in there, it becomes this
big wrestling match and it stifles creativity.
MG: How do you deal
with that in a band?
RB: When someone brings in something; usually we know right
off the bat if it’s going to work or not.
We try it on for size. If it
flies we keep it in. Anybody can bring
anything in. People know the concept of
the band. I never wanted it to be one
sided when it’s always about me and my choice.
MG: What are some
examples when someone else suggested a song?
RB: Night Train, on
our first album. It was someone else who
suggested it. And it was big. It was on our first album and we did it for a
long time. I still quote it in
Skallacart. Different band members bring
in different tunes…anything can be put to the beat… with the right arrangement.
MG: What was the
relationship between you and Buford O’Sullivan, it seems on the last album
(Record of Convictions Moon Ska Records 1998) your role within in the band may
have diminished?
RB: It can be
referred to as a Buford album. At the
time I was going through a divorce and stuff.
My life was mired in shit. I was
not the driving force behind that one.
Compared to our first two, but still I let others take the lead. I didn’t want to make all the decisions. If
someone had some expertise in one area, I’d let them have it. Putting the right guy: in the right
place. I always wanted the musician to
do their thing within our thing, that’s when you get the optimum from a
musician. I’ve been very lucky to hook
up with people who have been very talented and sympathetic.
MG: Moon Records was releasing
all of your releases and went under.
What was the situation with them?
RB: It was kind of a musician’s
co-op. It was never a cash cow. They did this crazy thing where they would
give you product and you sell it and supposedly you made more from it. Rob (The Toasters and owner of the label) had
a heavy tour schedule and would sell all of his releases, so by the time we
pulled through all of our records were sold.
So, it got it little weird that way.
We did a fair amount through stores.
We never thought we’d get rich doing that. We aspired to do that and for a little while
it happened, but I always had a part time job I could jump back into. I never really did it full, full time.
MG: Yet, The
Scofflaws toured the US and Europe. Who organized your tours?
RB: Moon had a lot to do with that. We worked with two different booking
agencies. There was an English lad who
was getting us gigs. When you have a
power house agent it makes the difference.
They set everything up in advance.
RB: He did, prior to us. Scott did not come till the mid nineties by then things were picking up and MG: So going back to
Scott, I know he managed The Mosquitoes.
we were on Moon. Scott is a good negotiator and was a good
representative for the band.
Look for Part II in the near future…
